Hanselstadt was a town in Germany known for its Slayer Sanctuary.
History[]
An illusory demon that fed on regrets lived in Hanselstadt. As vampires feared it and stayed away from the village as long as the demon lived, the villagers fed it with their own children to keep the place safe from vampires. With no surviving children, they sent out word of a Slayer Sanctuary to lure disillusioned Slayers to be fed to the demon. The plan was architected by Duncan Fillworthe, who considered himself the model Watcher for sacrificing Slayers to save an entire village.[1]
Faith Lehane and Rupert Giles first heard of the Slayer Sanctuary from the newly activated Slayer Courtney, who knew that various Slayers had retreated to this place. As she guided them, Giles planned that Faith would inspire the hiding Slayers to return to the fight, but Faith disagreed, their task was not to recruit: the Slayers had their right to reject their call.[1]
The town was deep into the mountains and, during the train travel, Giles observed that vampires gathered in numbers along the borders of the village, but dare not enter. They were welcomed at the village by Duncan, who invited them to dinner at a banquet hall and explained that they kept the vampires out with the threat of a Slayer army. Faith questioned the whereabouts of the Slayers and Giles mentioned the possibility of recruiting these girls, but Duncan told them the Slayers had no interest in protecting the innocents that resented them for killing vampires.[1]
An older woman then invited Faith and Courtney to the library, where the Sanctuary was located. Faith noticed that there were no children on the streets and realized that they were walking into an obvious trap. As they opened the door in a green haze, Faith was confronted with a vampire from her past, the Third she encountered and regretted having failed to slay, who told her he had since killed all of her friends. Meanwhile, Courtney stood by and watched Faith fight an invisible vampire, as she didn't share in the illusion, until she witnessed her parents forgiving her for destroying their marriage. Faith and Courtney were hallucinating, where in reality they were being taken in by a demon's tentacles.[1]
At the banquet hall, Duncan revealed to Giles about the demon that lived in Hanselstadt, as well as the sacrifices the villagers made to keep it alive. Giles ran off to rescue Faith and Courtney from being devoured by the demon, but Duncan went after them armed with a crossbow. He tried again to reason with Giles to let the demon kill the girls, but Faith was able to knock Duncan into the arms of the demon, where he was devoured. Armed with Duncan's crossbow, Faith shot the demon in the mouth, who died and exploded.[1]
From the borders, the vampires noticed it was then safe to enter the town. The villagers were angry that their protector was killed, and Courtney told them the vampires should be allowed to take them for what they had done. Faith then said that, even though these people had done wrong, they were still people, and Slayers didn't let people die. She told the crowd that if they wanted to live, they would have to fight. Faith, Courtney, and Giles then led the armed villagers against the oncoming vampires.[1]